GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Three long passes for scores from returning senior quarterback Landon Martin, the first two to MiKeise Battle and the third, an 80-yarder to Daylen Brown, underscored an explosive looking offense for the Clay High Blue Devils' football varsity team as Clay was the first among area teams on the gridiron for their annual Blue-White scrimmage on Thursday, May 14.

"We're going to be really good. We have a lot of returners that are hungry to get Blue Devil football back where it belongs," said Martin, who was also a state qualifying wrestler for Clay. "The line is looking amazing, and they have to block guys like Jay'Shawn McCloud and Kade Williamson every day."

The offensive line was led by center Touni Saoud, who recently medaled at the Class 2A boys weightlifting championships in the Unlimited class.

"I'm back at center and the guys around me are Ryan Collins, Cooper Blackwood, Sean Mills and left tackle is Ben Loper," Saoud said. "I'm calling the signals up front with what Landon is giving us for the play. Our pass protection is going to be a lot better and our two running backs, Connor Beck and Kamari Davis, are going to be good."

Also adding some positives to Coach Jeff Gierke's approach are a few underclassmen that had fast impact in the scrimmage including quarterback Luke Orladny and running back Brock Elliot. He took his first pass from Orladny in an eighth-grade level scrimmage and rumbled 80 yards to paydirt with a couple of eluded tackles along the way.

"I'm excited by some of the young kids who were out here," Gierke said. "We like the competition and had 105 kids come out for the team. That creates good depth and a lot of motivation to keep getting better because the guy behind you on the depth chart is going to push the guys up top."

Also getting a long pass from Orladny was Austin Moss who snuck out on a wheel route to get loose down the sideline for a 65-yard scoring play.

In the first series for varsity, Brown took a quick slant and got extra yards before getting almost decapitated on the tackle. The catch and run set up a Battle scoring strike with Martin threading a seam to hit Battle just inside the five-yard line on a 22-yard scoring pass. Battle would catch a juggling post pattern score of about 45 yards in the second quarter.